- Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow Pollok, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 17 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive which of its directorates will be responsible for the staff development of professionals employed in community engagement within community planning partnerships in the event of Communities Scotland being abolished.
Answer
The Public Service ReformDirectorate continues to have overall responsibility for community planning policy.However, responsibility for implementation of community planning sits with the partnershipsthemselves, and it is up to individual partnerships to decide on the detail ofhow this is done.
Housingand Regeneration Directorate will have responsibility for aspects of communityengagement in relation to housing and regeneration.
Lifelong LearningDirectorate supports good practice in staff development of Community Learningand Development professionals and contributes to work led by Housing andRegeneration Directorate to support good practice in staff development forpublic service professionals to equip them for community engagement.
- Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow Pollok, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 17 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive which of its directorates will be responsible for training members of the community involved in the boards of community planning partnerships in the event of Communities Scotland being abolished.
Answer
The Public Service ReformDirectorate continues to have overall responsibility for community planningpolicy. However, responsibility for implementation of community planning sitswith the partnerships themselves, and it is up to individual partnerships todecide on the detail of how this is done.
Lifelong LearningDirectorate supports the implementation of Scottish Government policy forCommunity Learning and Development (CLD). CLD is delivered by local partners,through partnerships led by local authorities but actively involving thevoluntary sector, colleges and others; it has a key role in building thecapacity of communities to engage with CPPs, which includes, when appropriate,contributing to training members of the community involved in the boards ofCPPs.
- Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow Pollok, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 14 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 17 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many additional civil servants will be needed to ensure the provision of staff development of professionals employed in community engagement within community planning partnerships in the event of Communities Scotland being abolished.
Answer
It is not anticipated thatany additional civil servants will be needed.
- Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow Pollok, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 17 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether local authorities will be informed about the reporting process for single outcome agreements before they decide whether to agree to the terms of its concordat with COSLA.
Answer
COSLA is the representative voiceof Scottish local government, and COSLA and the Scottish Government agreed the termsof the concordat in November 2007. The details of the single outcome agreements,including the reporting process, are being developed jointly with local government.However, and as with any agreement between two parties, an individual local authoritymust satisfy itself that it is content with the details of its single outcome agreementbefore signing up to it.
- Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow Pollok, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 17 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-6655 by John Swinney on 12 December 2007, whether the inclusion of a representative from Audit Scotland on the group to oversee the implementation of single outcome agreements is compatible with the independent auditing role of Audit Scotland.
Answer
Audit Scotland hasa statutory responsibility to audit the performance of public bodies on behalf of the Auditor General and the Accounts Commission. Audit Scotland’s roleon the group is to assist in ensuring that single outcome agreements are underpinnedby robust monitoring and performance reporting arrangements.
- Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow Pollok, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 17 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 17 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-6655 by John Swinney on 12 December 2007, why there is no person with a specific equal opportunities remit included in the group to oversee the implementation of single outcome agreements.
Answer
The remit of the group is tooversee the successful delivery of single outcome agreements between the ScottishGovernment and local authorities. One of the key purposes of the group is to setout the process of engagement with all policy communities across the Scottish Governmentand local government.
This process will include thefull consideration of equal opportunities related issues by policy communities toensure that satisfactory progress is made towards achieving the government’s targetsto increase social cohesion and solidarity across Scotland.
- Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow Pollok, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 17 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive in what ways the Local Government and Communities Committee will be included in the consultation on the future of Communities Scotland.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-8181 on 17 January 2008. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow Pollok, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 17 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive when the consultation document on the future of Communities Scotland will be made available.
Answer
Following consultation withCOSLA last year, the Scottish Government announced to Parliament on 31 October 2007 its decision to abolish Communities Scotland. The discussion document Firm Foundations: The Future ofHousing in Scotland refers to this andsets out our plans to put in place interim arrangements to ensure that theregulatory function currently discharged by Communities Scotland will continueto operate at arms length from ministers. A standalone agency will be establishedto fulfil this role.
The remaining housing andregeneration functions of Communities Scotland will transfer into the coreScottish Government, with the exception of the local community regeneration rolewhich will be discontinued.
- Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow Pollok, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 17 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the consultation on the future of Communities Scotland will include consideration of the regulation of housing providers.
Answer
I refer the member to the answerto question S3W-8181 on 17 January 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can befound at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow Pollok, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 03 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Maxwell on 17 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the consultation on the future of Communities Scotland will include consideration of the method of allocation of funding for housing.
Answer
Following consultation with COSLAlast year, the Scottish Government announced to Parliament on 31 October 2007 itsdecision to abolish Communities Scotland. The discussion document Firm Foundations: The Future of Housingin Scotland refers to this. It also setsout proposals for allocating government subsidy of social housing through a seriesof large-scale competitions.
